Gaming machines that provide players awards in primary games are well known. Gaming machines generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary game. Gaming machines typically determine any award provided to the player based on the primary game outcome including one or more winning symbols or winning symbol combinations and on the amount of the wager. Secondary games are also well known in gaming machines. The secondary games usually provide an additional award or award opportunity to the player. Secondary games usually do not require an additional player wager to be activated.
Gaming machines typically include one or more display devices that display among other things, the primary and secondary games and any associated awards. Various types of display devices have been employed or proposed to be employed in gaming machines including but not limited to mechanical displays (such as reels and wheels) and video monitors (such as television displays, plasma displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), displays based on light emitting diodes (LEDs), displays based on a plurality of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), displays based on polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs), and displays based on a plurality of surface-conduction electron-emitters (SEDs)). In various known gaming machines, the display device is supported by or mounted in or to an openable door that is attached to the housing of the cabinet of the gaming machine. The door is openable to provide access to the components inside the cabinet.
In recent years, various known gaming machines have been made with a display device in the form of a relatively large curved monitor. One problem that has arisen with gaming machines that have relatively large curved monitors relates to how the relatively large curved monitor is supported by the housing and particularly the door of the cabinet when the monitor extends in a portrait orientation (i.e., the curve of the monitor extends vertically or from top to bottom). More specifically, the problem with such doors that support such large curved monitors relates to being able to open the door in a way that provides full service access inside the cabinet (i.e., in the housing behind the door), while not interfering with a neighboring gaming machine such as a neighboring gaming machine on a 28-inch pitch.
One way to partially address this problem has been implemented in certain known gaming machines. In these known gaming machines, the relatively large curved monitor is supported by a curved door or monitor support that is pivotally hinged to the housing of the cabinet at a top horizontal edge of the door or monitor support (like the back hatch of a minivan). However, these doors or monitor supports typically do not open fully. If they did, the center of gravity could end up too far in front of the gaming machine's stand and cause the gaming machine to tip forward. Thus, this solution does not facilitate full access to the interior components of these gaming machines.
One problem with using a vertically extending hinge for a gaming machine with a door or monitor support that supports a relatively large curved monitor is that the monitor's curve has the effect of making it act like it's very thick. If the door or monitor support that supports the relatively large curved monitor is hinged at the top and bottom corners of the door, the middle of the door or monitor support will swing too far into the housing of the cabinet (in particular, the monitor and housing would need overlapping security flanges and that wouldn't be possible because the back of the door or monitor support would be trying to swing through them). If the door that supports the relatively large curved monitor is hinged at the center, the top and bottom corners of the door would swing very wide of the cabinet and potentially hit a neighboring gaming machine.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve these problems, and particularly a need to provide a gaming machine with a relatively large curved monitor that is attached to the housing of the cabinet and that enables the monitor (and the door or monitor support) to open a full 90 degrees while keeping the monitor (and the door or monitor support) close to the housing of the cabinet.